My LWB Hi Roof Tranny is easy to drive and park but it overhangs a supermarket parking space by a couple of feet which doesn't matter if the car park isn't busy and I can park lengthways over 2 back to back spaces but I wouldn't like to try to park it in a town centre car park on a busy day. Also hi roof means that you need to be careful about height restrictions on some car parks.
When I bought it I was intending to sell my everyday vehicle (Peugeot Partner van) and use the Tranny as my only vehicle but after having had it a few months now, I've decided to keep the Partner as my everyday vehicle (despite the financial cost of running 2 vehicles) simply because of the convenience of having a smaller, more economical everyday vehicle. Plus, there has already been 1 occasion when having a second vehicle has saved my neck (when I flattened the
battery in the Partner leaving an interior light on over 3 days) and saved considerable stress first thing in the morning on discovering a completely flat
battery.
I haven't yet insulated the side walls of my Tranny which are plylined, and when I measured the width, from ply to ply it was 175cm so if you are 6ft, in a similar vehicle you might struggle to get a full length transverse bed which is comfortable for you.
I don't see that having a white van makes much difference compared to a coloured van. I've never had any problems with my white Partner, although I have got pawprint stickers and a sign with a picture of a German Shepherd saying "Beware of the dog". Also a pink steering wheel cover does tend to indicate that it's not a builder's van! I'm planning to eventually put some stickers along the same lines on the Tranny, as over the years a lot of people have asked me (because of the stickers etc on the Partner) if I work for an animal charity or dog food supplier or am I a professional dog trainer. So whilst you might not want pawprints on your van, it might be worth thinking about putting some sort of "disguise" stickers or livery on it.
What I've found about my Tranny is not to be rigid in my ideas for it - using it at the moment as a mobile tent means that everytime I use it I come home with an idea about layout or what I actually need from it, so that I am gradually ending up with a vehicle that suits my needs exactly, designed from my experience. As others have said, the first priority is insulation and once that's done, then you can use it as a mobile tent at least. So far I've only insulated my roof and floor and need to empty it and take the side plys off to do the walls which is going to be a time consuming nuisance job.
After the insulation the next thing is to wire in a leisure
battery - I've just done that whilst away over Easter under Firefox's supervision, and now I've got lights and can power my laptop and have got piece of mind that I can jump start the Tranny off the leisure
battery in emergencies. I had been using
battery powered LED lights with rechargable batteries which were ok but it was something else to remember to have to do when I got home, to recharge or replace the batteries. But it's worth having a few of these as back up. Having done the wiring myself, I've learned a huge amount about the basics of electrics and now feel confident to wire in a cigarette adaptor socket and my little 12v beer fridge, and a couple of 12v LED lights.
And the most important thing I've learned so far is that every single job, no matter how small or seemingly quick, takes about 4 times as long as you think it will take, nothing is ever straight forward. For example, it took less than an hour to do the wiring for the leisure
battery, but then several hours to do the earth as we had to undo a rusted bolt through the floor and then clean off the rust to bare metal, find a bolt that would fit etc etc. And it was a 2 person job, one person either side of the floor to tighten the nut and bolt.
But you will get a huge sense of satisfaction after doing just a small job on a self-build, every little improvement no matter how small gives a sense of pride, and self-satisfaction. Enjoy the process!
